It’s hard when you’re a fan. One cannot expect me to accurately predict 30 teams’ fates for this upcoming NFL season right on the dot.
I can’t peer through the fog of a crystal ball when the Bills are playing eenie-meenie-miney-mo with three quarterbacks. Nor could I tell you if the Steelers will end up a Roethlisberger-injury-and-fail or playoff-birth-and-fail team. I guess the ending result is evident. I can’t tell if the Lions will taste a Wild Card with this group of players, but I can say this is the best shot they’ll have this era. I can’t tell if the Packers will play a postseason like they do regular season for once since 2010. I honestly don’t even know if the Ravens have officially tanked in part to the defense disintegrated from this winter and summer.
What I can do, from my viewpoints to all of yours, is opinionate every topic in the NFL discussed lately. From the tailgates, Buffalo Wild Wings, and barbershops across the land, expect to have heard it all. (This is going to look like barf swept to the corner of the room, but I’ll label this so this mess looks remotely organized.)
RANDOM FACTS OPINIONS
Colin Kaepernick is overhyped. Let me see him play a full season before I leap to say he “could be one of the greatest quarterbacks ever.” (Cough) Ron Jaworski. As soon as he navigates an offense through a season from start to finish, I’ll be the first to say he’s one of the best. With an above-average half of a regular season and incredible postseason, I just find it hard to be so bold right now.
You want to talk about false hype though? The Cowboys are said to have “as good or better leadership than in 24 years” of Jerry Jones owning the team. They went 8-8 last year with no significant upgrade through the offseason.
“I honestly feel like [2,000 yards and 20 touchdowns] can potentially happen,” Dez Bryant said. Well, you’ll have to “honestly feel like” Tony Romo won’t get a league-leading 19 interceptions first, Dez. I guess it’s not the only Bryant to talk up his team to the media this year. Look how they did.
So who’s underrated this upcoming season?
The Rams’ receiver, Tavon Austin, can’t even squint to see the radar above him. He’s now a weak team’s number one receiving option with a solid quarterback in Sam Bradford. With stud halfback Steven Jackson in Atlanta now, I can see Austin’s dates with a spiral just skyrocketing from here.
Much alike, Patriots’ receiver Danny Amendola is underrated. With Brandon Lloyd, Wes Welker, and Aaron Hernandez out of town, Rob Gronkowski still recovering from surgery, Tom Brady isn’t spoiled anymore. When healthy, Amendola presents tremendous upside with a top-ten quarterback of all-time looking his way.
Guys like the Colt’s Andrew Luck are underrated. This guy has potential to be the best quarterback in the world next decade, yet no one seems allowed to say it. Straight from the time machine, Luck resembles every bit of the same play style as Peyton Manning. Each a genius with the playbook, their bread-and-butter is midrange bullets. ‘He throws too many picks!’ Yeah? 18 interceptions as a rookie sounds rough, doesn’t it? Guess who holds the single-season rookie interception record. Peyton Manning with 28. Luck also happens to have the single-season rookie passing yards record. And that was with a nonexistent run game. With Ahmad Bradshaw in the backfield now, the field now looks more open, the future more bright for the Colts’ #12.
Hmmm…some more random opinions.
Jay Cutler is a hell of a lot better than people give him credit for. (Discard bias viewpoints because I’m actually a Packers fan.) He could get his sidearm pass off in a thick forest. Those trees seem to collapse on him quicker than most other quarterbacks in the league, and he still throws for 3,000 every year. There’s only so much blame that can be thrust upon a quarterback when sacked, and Cutler, frankly, deserves none of it.
The Jaguars are hopeless.
The Broncos are hopeful. And for good reason. Manning, statistically, happens to be the most accurate passer to the slot receiver in the league (72 percent completed last year). New addition Wes Welker happens to be the most productive slot receiver in the game. And to think he may not even be the best receiver on the team! With Demarius Thomas and Eric Decker still in the mix, the options now seem as primed as Manning’s late Indianapolis years. A new addition of rookie Montee Ball to share carries with Knowshon Moreno makes this offense even more multi-faceted than last year’s AFC Championship squad. Scary.
I can’t do one of these columns without some predictions, so here we go. (Oh, and forget the beginning about not trying to predict; gamblers, go all in with this.)
PREDICTIONS
Kaepernick, by the way, will be better off, now with aging yet still elite receiver Anquan Boldin in the mix.
Michael Vick will blow out something like he always does. The guy hasn’t played a full season since 2006, his only full season of his 10-year career. It doesn’t help that he’s had ‘Concuss Me’ taped to his back for years. Matt Barkley will step in his place and be the next Mark Sanchez. (Take that joke prediction as you may.)
Greg Jennings will get booed at Lambeau. By late November, it’ll be a cold welcoming either way.
Russell Wilson won’t be affected by the brief gain-and-loss of receiver Percy Harvin, who would’ve made a world of a difference. Wilson slings the ’skin for three grand again, and the Seahawks fall just short of the ’Niners in the NFC West…again.
The Falcons dominate a regular season again, even with a diminutive downgrade to their backfield. Postseason vengeance prevails until they face the Packers in the NFC Championship game.
Green Bay’s rookie halfback Eddie Lacy, with far less carries than Trent Richardson of Cleveland, shows shades of him throughout the season. Lacy’s end result more than compensates for the loss to receiver Greg Jennings, as the field opens up for Aaron Rodgers to scan.
The Redskins dominate the Giants, Cowboys, and Eagles in the NFC East even more than last year’s 10-6 record, which did just the job.
Adrian Peterson has a far less-monster year, yet monster nonetheless. The Vikings drop behind the Packers and Bears in the NFC North, falling in a tight race to the Lions for the third spot. Lions snag a Wild Card.
The Jets give up on Mark Sanchez, and rookie Geno Smith is fed to the wolves.
Any more notables? Eh, not that we’ll care about. We’ll head straight to the conference championships. With the Colts making a solid push, the Texans fight into the AFC Championship and lose to the Broncos, a team who should’ve made the Super Bowl last year. They’ll face the Packers, who stomp the Falcons the game prior. It’ll be a pass-heavy showdown. Each with an extremely young backfield, a group of receivers who’ve played in these types of games, and quarterback who’s been there, done it all, it’ll be a mirroring matchup. The Broncos defense prevails, the Packers’ secondary showing to not quite have the championship caliber it had several years ago.
So, there. Thanks for reading the messy brainstorm on the NFL I wish I could get away with writing every week.